Which to use
“portable” and “potable” are a confusable French pair: similar on the page, but distinct in meaning, check the gloss before you choose.
- #2,537
- “portable” frequency rank
- #7,217
- “potable” frequency rank
- 9754
- confusion score
Side-by-Side Comparison
| Feature | portable | potable |
|---|---|---|
| Definition | Que l’on peut porter et déplacer facilement. | Que l'on peut boire sans danger pour la santé, ou sans répugnance. |
Where the eye mixes portable and potable
Muted = shared; highlighted = the visual trap. They share 7 letters in sequence.
Visual trap between portable and potable
A purely visual mix-up. portable (\pɔʁ.tabl\) and potable (\pɔ.tabl\) are said differently, so reading them aloud is the quickest way to catch the wrong one. On the page they stay close: they differ by 1 letter(s) in length. Our composite confusion score for this pair is 9754, derived from the frequency rank of both members and their visual similarity.
portable is recorded at frequency rank #2,537, classified as anadj, pronounced \pɔʁ.tabl\. potable is at rank #7,217, tagged as anadj, pronounced \pɔ.tabl\.
Glosses for this pair are partially populated in our dataset, but the full side-by-side definitions above should still guide you to the right choice.
With a confusion score of 9754, this pair ranks #415,537 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs - a relatively easy-to-tell-apart pair.
Orthographic DNA of portable vs potable
Shared letters: abelopt. Private to "portable": r. Private to "potable": -.
"portable" · 8 letters · shape CVCCVCCV · "potable" · 7 letters · shape CVCVCCV
Known mistypes of this pair
Frequently Asked Questions
Is swapping "portable" for "potable" ever safe?
Which is more common, "portable" or "potable"?
Useful next steps
Visual near-miss handled. Browse the word pages or a neighbour when the next look-alike shows up.
- Full dictionary entry for "portable" with definition, IPA, and generated misspellings. Word entry
- Full dictionary entry for "potable" - compare definitions side by side with the headword page. Word entry
- This pair ranks #415,537 of 440,172 scored French confusable pairs in this corpus vintage. Corpus statistics
- "portable" and "potable" also get mixed up with nearby pairs, the highest-scored neighbour is "potable vs potache". Nearby pair
- Recorded mistypes exist for at least one side of this pair, useful when a spell-checker or OCR lands on the wrong form. See mistypes
Confusion rank #415,537 of 440,172 scored French pairs, corpus vintage 2026-09-03, not spelling advice.